SOME THINGS I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR

D I R E C T O RDR. “RED” BAKER

It’s an exciting time to be part of the SFRC within IFAS at UF! Our faculty have been busy

acquiring competitive grants, which fund the bulk of our graduate students and research

enterprises. At last count, the SFRC generated $1.40 in additional resources for every $1

received from the state, demonstrating how effectively we leverage state resources to

create additional capacity and expertise for the people of Florida and beyond.

The SFRC adds value to the state in other ways as well. A recent study by UF’s Alan Hodges

(Food & Resource Economics) revealed how the diverse forest industry in Florida generated

in excess of $25 billion in economic activity for our state (http://TinyURL.com/FFApres2017),

approximately one-half of which were direct revenues to the forest industry. The SFRC is

proud to be a long-term partner with this important business sector, with over 80 years

working together to help it remain competitive and productive.

Roland T. Stern family names the Learning Center

SFRC researcher awarded $7M grant to improve how plants get nitrogen, reduce pollution

Research Focus ... 3

Awards & Recognition ... 5

Student Spotlight ... 8

Meet the Staff ... 9

NewsletterSchool of Forest Resources & Conservation

FALL 2017

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

International travels with the SFRC

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Florida Forestry Association, Inc.Edwin & Jennifer Montgomery

J. N. & Wendy AdamsJ. R. & Karyl Cochran

John E. MorrisR. Patrick & Holly ElliotSamuel M. Van Hook II

Terry T. Baker, Jr.Thomas & Joan StadsklevThomas & Mary Braddock

Pinova, Inc.Robert R. Logan Ltd.

Bartlett Tree Diagnostic LaboratoriesBetty Harper & Scott Sheeder

Don & Joanne RockwoodMichael Parker

F&W Forestry Services, Inc.GreenTechnologies LLCInternational Forest Co.

Douglas VoltolinaGeorge & Arlene Park

Gregory & Martina DriskellHarry & Patricia Bumgarner

Joseph & Cythe ShiverRoger & Janie Bollinger

Thomas & Ramona LeetchWilliam Harrell, Jr.

William & Sharyl WoodAnne & Randy Rilling

Christine PlumleyDiane & Tommy Tyrone

Gretchen SeasteadSusan & Robert SchimelNorfolk Southern Corp.

North Florida Woodlands, Inc.Chris Demers & Julie Ferguson-Demers

American Forest FoundationChristopher Wild

NCEESJoseph Mattson & Christine Hartman

Kathleen & Tommy BrooksBill & Monica Lindberg

University of West FloridaHorse Creek Aquafarm LLC

Evelyn Timm Koenig FoundationF&W Forestry Services, Inc.

Florida Forestry Association, Inc.Hyatt Survey Services, Inc.

Susan & Larry WildesPackaging Corp. of America

Shield Properties, Inc.TRM Woodlands, Inc.

Eric WillhjelmLisa Davis

Chuck & Mary CichraCaylin & Terry Hilton

Herbert & Maryann BoltonTim & Cynthia MartinMark & Jenna Nelson

Auburn NorrisOwen Simmons

Ryan & Monica MarshAnita & Christian Massias

Paul Bispham & Libby TynerLucinda Stern

YOUR SUPPORT IS APPRECIATED!

Nearly $1 million grant will help struggling blue crab industry. Don Behringer will use the grant to study blue crab and a viral pathogen that infects the species. The research team will study the disease along the entire western Atlantic seaboard.

Crab populations have been severly diminished by a combination of hurricanes and the virus in question. According to the Gulf States Fisheries Commission, by 2013 blue crab harvest totaled 46.5 million

pounds with dockside revenue of $61.3 million. This is down from a peak of 70 million pounds through 2000.

“The blue crab is an important fishery and significant part of Florida’s economy,

and we want to help the industry manage this pathogen where possible,” Behringer said.

Behringer and colleagues from the University of Maryland and Shedd Aquarium in Chicago will study how the pathogen affects blue crabs and how the relationship varies with latitude, climate and oceanographic conditions from the northern to southern hemispheres. The research team will integrate hydro-acoustic tracking, laboratory experiments, cutting- edge genetic techniques and oceanographic modeling to answer fundamental questions about how pathogens and hosts interact

across large swaths of the ocean.

The team plans to produce genetic data for the blue crab and virus populations, Behringer said. “The grant will allow us to

study how the pathogen and host have co-evolved over the vast oceanographic expanse where they exist,” Behringer said.

SFRC faculty member Don Behringer and his graduate students will lead a

multi-university team studying crab behavior and the interaction between

crab life history, climate, and virulence of a deadly virus that has been

impacting populations for over a decade.

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RESEARCH FOCUS BLUE CRAB

Adapted from original story by Beverly James, courtesy UF/IFAS.

The Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences program within SFRC has also contributed greatly to the fishing

and aquaculture industries for the state of Florida. This very diverse array of industries has been

estimated to generate in excess of $15 billion for the state’s economy through commercial and

recreational fishing, many water-related recreational activities, and seafood processing. Economists

tell us, however, that this figure is due to be revised and may be much higher.

Not to be outdone, the Geomatics program received a 2017 NCEES Surveying Education Award,

reflecting the program’s national prominence. Geomatics has graduated over 140 undergraduate

students in the last ten years; 50% of Geomatics graduates go on to own their own firms and

75% remain in the state of Florida. Significantly, our Geomatics program remains as arguably the

top program of its kind throughout the US. With over 1,000 people moving to Florida each day,

estimates suggest the state will require 140 new surveyors and mappers each year to keep pace

with growing infrastructure and development needs--three times the current licensing rate!

I cite these facts and figures because I believe it is important to demonstrate the SFRC’s effective

use of the resources entrusted to us, and to periodically reflect on the contributions and impacts of

our efforts. The SFRC is proud to support these industries and activities throughout our state, and

we look forward to continuing the crucial partnerships that have enriched not only our lives, but the

lives of the people and communities we serve.

continued from cover

givingthanks to our donors

The UF Board of Trustees recently approved and accepted a significant endowment ($750,000) from Lucinda Stern and her family toward naming the Austin Cary Forest Learning Center; henceforth it will be called the Roland T. Stern Learning Center. A portion of the gift will be dedicated to enhancing the ACF’s educational capacity and another portion will go toward scholarships for graduate and undergraduate students from north-central Florida.

Roland Thomas Stern was born in Starke, FL in 1941. Members of his family have lived on the same piece of land for the last 100 years. Roland and his wife, Lucinda, raised their two daughters on the 60-acre property originally purchased by Roland’s grandfather, Augustus Stern, in

1912. Four generations of family members live on Stern Farm today. Growing up, Roland learned an appreciation of the land. His family had a sawmill and grist mill on the property, and also grew strawberries, sugar cane, pecans, and occasionally rice. Roland’s father cut and sold the timber used in building many homes in Starke and the Kingsley Lake area.

Following his graduation from high school, Roland attended Lake City Forest

Ranger School, then left Florida to work for timber company Georgia Craft. He met Lucinda while helping her brother build a house. Six months later, they married. The couple returned to Stern Farm in 1969, purchasing 30 acres of the family land. In 1985, Roland partnered with some of his

forestry colleagues to acquire Callahan Timber and begin Great South Timber and Lumber, Inc. Lake City, FL. Great South Timber and Lumber purchases and harvests Southern Yellow pine trees and their sawmill manufactures quality Southern Yellow pine lumber.

Roland retired in 2015 as president of the company. Roland was an active member and deacon at Kingsley Lake Baptist Church. He passed away at age 75 on January 8, 2017.

Rendering of the Austin Cary Forest’s newly named Roland T. Stern Learning Center with signage by Walker Architects.

Endowment Names the ACF Learning Center

Roland and Lucinda Stern

Courtesy UFBOT & UFF

S O LV I N GS U S T A I N A B I L I T Y PROBLEMSFOOD SECURITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT CONVERGE THROUGH GENETICS RESEARCH

SFRC faculty member Matias Kirst will oversee the five-year project with four

researchers from the Florida Museum of Natural History: UF distinguished professors and curators Pam Soltis

and Doug Soltis, associate curator Rob Guralnick and research associate Ryan Folk. Agronomy professor Jean-Michel

Ané and computational biologist Sushmita Roy from the University of

Wisconsin-Madison are also on the investigative team.

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A team of researchers at the universities of Florida and Wisconsin-Madison will use a $7.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to pinpoint genes that could improve plants’ ability to access nitrogen, an essential nutrient for plant growth.

Enhancing plants’ nitrogen uptake could increase food security by promoting crop growth in poor soils and could reduce the need for nitrogen fertilizers, lowering costs for farmers and lessening environmental damage caused by runoff, said Matias Kirst, principal investigator and professor of plant genomics at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

Most plants can only obtain nitrogen from the soil, which offers a limited supply. Many crops depend on nitrogen fertilizers to survive and produce high yields.But some plants, such as legumes, have a unique way of working around this problem, researchers said. They have evolved a fine-tuned partnership with root-dwelling bacteria that capture nitrogen from the atmosphere and change it into a form that the plant can absorb and use, a process known as nitrogen fixation.

Understanding the evolutionary origins of this partnership and identifying the genes responsible for nitrogen fixation could enable scientists to introduce these genes into other plants, Kirst said. Adding these genes to crops such as wheat, corn and rice could decrease the amount of nitrogen fertilizer they require and increase crop productivity.

“We hope to make an impact by improving yields and making agriculture more sustainable,” Kirst said.

“This is a critical problem not just for

agriculture, but society in general,”

Kirst said. “We’re going to use this

technology to minimize fertilizer runoff,

contamination of waterways and carbon

dioxide release in the atmosphere.”

Story by Brad Buck, courtesy UF/IFAS blogs - http://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/

STAFF FIELD TRIPIn September, SFRC staff joined faculty member Eben Broadbent at the Ordway-Swisher Biological Station research facilities and were introduced to the various activities that happen there, from NEON research to elementary school field trips. Eben provided a demonstration on unmanned aerial vehicles and how they are used for his and others’ teaching and research activities.

Staff enjoyed touring through the woods, standing at the base of the 100+ foot tall NEON station, and watching a drone mission close-up, dazzled by the dizzying array of data flying across the accompanying laptop screen. They had a great time visiting with one of our newer faculty members.

FRC Associate Professor Michael Andreu received a Wells Fargo

Extension Professional Awards/ Program Enhancement Grant. It includes $10,000 for extension

program support.

National Resources and Conservation student Lacey Miller was named one of the Air National

Guard’s Outstanding Airmen of the Year. She is an E-5/ Staff

Sergeant.

SFRC student and Gator Swimmer Caeleb Dressel competed at the FINA (International Federation of Swimming) World Championships in Budapest this summer. He set five American records over the

event, and assisted in setting two world records for relays.

Natural Resources and Conservation student Cara

Maniscalco was named to the founding board of the UF

College of Agriculture Student Philanthropy Council.

awards & recognition

ORDWAY-SWISHER BIOLOGICAL STATION

This year’s Florida Surveying & Mapping Society

awards dinner included the honoring of several SFRC affiliates:

John Clyatt (UF ‘83), also a member of the Geomatics Program Advisory Committee,

was presented with “Committee Chair of the Year”

Bon Dewitt (SFRC faculty) was awarded as “Fellow Member”

Don Elder (UF ‘16) was named “Jim Bennett Board Member of the

Year”

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School of Forest Resources & Conservation faculty and students traveled

to national and global destinations this summer for research, teaching, and

international collaboration. These connections with communities around the

world help strengthen our programs and broaden our reach as well as our

perspectives.

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SFRC GOES GLOBAL

SUMMER2 0 1 7

Faculty member Eben Broadbent with his Spatial Ecology and Conservation Lab in Brazil.

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Jesse Frazier (student) conducting research in Belize. Jesse is part of Michael Andreu’s lab.

Faculty member Michael Andreu leading a week-long field course Ecosystems of the Southeast US.

Faculty members Taylor Stein and Martha Monroe with graduate students and colleagues in Indonesia.

Sheena Simmons (student) worked on-site in Minnesota at the historic island home of Ernest “Ober” Oberholtzer, one of the founders of the Wilderness Society.

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MABEL BAEZFor my doctoral studies, I propose to both identify and quantify

the drivers of ecological degradation in tropical forests. By

coupling satellite imagery and geospatial analysis,

field-based biodiversity surveys, and socio-economic

surveys, I hope to better understand the impacts and

interactions of these drivers on forest structure and

composition and terrestrial mammal populations in

extractive reserves in the Amazon Basin. Ultimately,

my main objective is to synthesize this information to

support conservation and sustainable development

initiatives in high biodiversity regions.

As an SFRC Ph.D. student in Dr. Eben Broadbent’s

SPEC Lab, I have the opportunityto work with some

of the most cutting-edge techniques in geomatics

as well as access to some of the brightest minds

in tropical biology and conservation, particularly in

the Amazon. These are opportunities seldom found

elsewhere!

Also, as an Upstate New York resident when I

applied to the program, I was ready to chuck my

snow shovel out the door and experience the famous

Florida weather here at UF.

CASANDRA NEWKIRKThe Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences program in SFRC was my first

choice when applying to graduate school at UF. Not only has a

career in marine science always been my goal, but

the research that is happening here is extremely

interesting and relevant. Also, the dedication that

the program has in regards to conservation and

sustainability is very important to me.

I am currently working on my PhD out of the

Whitney Laboratory under the co-advisorship of Dr.

Tom Frazer (SNRE/FAS) and Dr. Mark Martindale

(Biology). My research focuses on the symbiotic

relationship between animals in the phylum

Cnidaria and symbiotic dinoflagellate algae in the

genus Symbiodinium, and the consequences of

the breakdown of this relationship under stress

(bleaching). Bleaching is a hot button issue when

discussing the decline of our coral reef ecosystems.

I hope my research will contribute to efforts to

rescue and restore coral reefs, and help to make

these ecosystems more resilient to a changing

climate. After finishing my PhD, I hope to work

extensively with outreach programs, to help bring

awareness of the importance of fisheries and marine

science to underrepresented communities.

Kim earned a BS in Natural Resource Management from the University

of Delaware. After completing her degree, she worked at several

different nature centers in the mid-Atlantic where she developed a

passion for environmental education and volunteer management. Now, as a recent Florida transplant, Kim

is excited to work with SFRC and provide support for the faculty and

staff of the department.

When she is not managing the affairs of the Director’s office, Kim enjoys

reading, kayaking, crossfit, and hiking new trails with her two dogs, Maddie

and Elmer. Fun fact: Kim sang in a women’s barbershop choir for 4

years. Her only performances now are during her daily commute.

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The SFRC Newsletter is published in Fall and Spring of each year. Submit your stories to SFRCnews@ifas.ufl.edu!

THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING:

RHIANNON POLLARD Writing, Editing, Layout

ELLISON LANGFORD Writing, Photography KIM SCOTTO Proofreading

SFRC FACULTY, STAFFand STUDENTS Contributions

IFAS COMMUNICATIONS Writing, Photography

UF FOUNDATION and BOARD of TRUSTEES Writing

ISSUE CREDITS

THE McKNIGHT AWARD

1 Prestigious full-award PhD fellowship administered by the UF Office of Graduate Diversity Initiatives, in partnership with the Florida Education Fund.

2 Only a handful of PhD applicants each year at UF are selected for this competitive, statewide award.

3 The program is designed to address the under-representation of African American and Hispanic faculty at colleges and universities in Florida.

4 The goal is to increase the pool of candidates qualified with PhD degrees to teach at the college and university levels.

FALL 2017 9FALL 2017

MEET THE STAFF

KIM SCOTTOAdministrative Assistant II

SFRC McKNIGHT FELLOWSSTUDENT SPOTLIGHT

DID YOU KNOW?US News & World Report ranked our undergraduate degree

Natural Resource Conservation #3

IFAS’ Nature Coast

Biological Station in

Cedar Key is home to

the 165-acre Seahorse

Key Marine Laboratory.

lidar @ seahorse key

https://ncbs.ifas.ufl.edu/

This new facility off the coast of

Cedar Key provides outstanding

opportunities to conduct

marine and terrestrial studies

in a stunning setting: a private

island with white sandy beaches

and palm trees, located only 45

minutes from campus.

Alex Sinardi, Senior in SFRC

Geomatics, and Dr. Eben

Broadbent conducted a baseline

beach topography and forest

structural assessment, using

the GatorEye Unmanned Flying

Laboratory, off the Seahorse Key

Marine Laboratory.

Researchers have access to

diverse habitats including

extensive marine grasses

and algae, sandy beaches,

mangroves, sand and mud flats,

oyster bars, sponge-shell litter

channels, and salt marshes. The

upland forests are important as

protected nesting areas for tens

of thousands of wading bird. A

tremendous variety of plants and

animals inhabit the local marine

and coastal habitats.

Forest structural assessment (above) and topography (below).

SCHOOL OF FOREST RESOURCES & CONSERVATION136 Newins-Ziegler HallPO Box 110410Gainesville, Florida 32611-0410

http://SFRC.UFL.EDU

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